by R. L. Morrison

There is an obedience of faith without which faith would profit nothing. Without works of obedience, faith is dead. James says it this way: "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only." Also, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:24-26).

Faith ALONE never yet made any person a husband or a wife. Faith alone has never made any alien a citizen of the United States of America. Nor has faith alone ever made a sinner a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. Many sincere religious people disagree with the latter statement, although they probably would not disagree with the first two, but the statements are parallel. Study of the scriptures will show that obedience of faith is necessary to please God, to become a child of God, and to be saved eternally.

When God warned Noah of a flood to come, Noah believed God (Heb. 11:7). This was his faith: he heard God. He believed what God said. But when God told Noah of a coming flood, He also told Noah how to escape that flood. To do so, Noah was required to build a vessel of gopher wood according to a specific plan or pattern. Did Noah's faith include or in any way involve obedience? Was it enough for Noah to just believe a flood was coming? Did he have to believe that he must build the ark? Do you think for a moment, that if Noah had not built the ark as God instructed him, he would have been saved when the flood came upon the earth? Do you think his faith ALONE would have borne him up; carried him through the flood unharmed? Surely not! It was the ark, built by faith, which saved Noah and his family from death. You see, when Noah believed, his faith led him to do exactly what God told him to do. He kept on day after day, year after year, doing a thing which others thought was foolish, and which human wisdom called ridiculous. But Noah continued, and when the flood came, the completed ark kept him and his family safe from destruction and death in the water. His building of that ark was the obedience of faith.

Under the leadership of Joshua, the Israelites crossed Jordan and pitched their camp before Jericho. The city was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel (Joshua 6:1). The Lord said unto Joshua, "See, I have given into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor." Joshua believed God. But he was also told exactly what to do to take the city. All the men of war were to march around the city once each day for six consecutive days. The ark of the covenant was to be borne by the appointed priests, preceded by seven additional priests, each bearing a trumpet of ram's horn. On the seventh day they were to march around the city seven times, the priests were to blow a long blast on the trumpets, and all the people following were to shout. When they did this, the walls of Jericho fell down flat. What is the obedience of faith in this record? Is it not the full or complete doing of everything God had commanded? Were not Joshua and all Israel to fully obey?

Just suppose that the elders of Israel had approached Joshua and suggested that in their opinion most of these things were unnecessary. Surely since God has given us the city, we need do nothing. Could we not take the city on the second or third day, if we have to do anything, as well as on the seventh day? And why march around it? Let's just come up against it. We can then blow the trumpets and shout. Why all this marching? Why wait a week?

Surely no one believes that Israel could so have obtained Jericho. Any thing less, even one item, than God commanded, would have resulted in a failure. Their refusal to obey, even in one point, would have evidenced a lack of faith on their part. We know this is true for Hebrews 11:30 says, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been compassed about seven days." Consider this obedience of faith and its result.

In Leviticus 10, there is an example of the lack of obedience, the lack of faith. Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, were priests whose duty was to burn incense before the Lord. They had been instructed as to how to do this, even as to the source of the fire to be used. But these men took fire from a strange place, that is, a place not commanded of God. The record says that fire went out from before the Lord and devoured them. Why? Did they not believe they should offer the incense? Fire is fire, isn't it? Were they not in the right place at the right time? True, but there was no obedience of faith. They did not obey all that the Lord had commanded them. Strange fire, fire not commanded, resulted in their death. Fire may be fire to man. It may not make any difference to man, but it did to God.

Saul, of Tarsus, a strict Pharisee, is another example of the obedience of faith. He, with a good conscience, persecuted the church in Jerusalem, consenting to put Christians to death. On his way to Damascus, seeking others to persecute, the Lord appeared to him. Saul was told he was persecuting Jesus by his actions. He asked, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6). His life, from this point until death, is an example of the obedience of faith. When told by Ananias to be baptized and wash away his sin, he obeyed. Soon after, he began to preach the faith, which once he sought to destroy. Although he suffered severe persecution, hardships almost beyond our understanding, he never wavered or turned aside. He believed. His faith required obedience.

Obedience to any of the commandments of the Lord is obedience of faith, but full and complete obedience is an absolute necessity. The first commandment in the gospel to the sinner is to hear and believe: believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This believer is then told to repent. Only a believer can repent, as the non-believer has no motive or reason to repent. This same believer is to confess with his mouth his faith in Christ, at which time he can be, is to be, baptized for the remission of past sins, and into the church or body of Christ. Jesus commanded the apostles to preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes the gospel he has heard will be saved ... but when? At the point of faith, or at the obedience of faith? When certain Jews, after they had heard the gospel proclaimed, asked the apostles what to do, Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). He continued to exhort these people, urging them to save themselves from that wicked generation. They that gladly received his words did just that. They were baptized, and received the remission of their sins, for they were added by the Lord to the church. When were they forgiven? At the obedience of faith! They heard the gospel, they believed what they heard. If they were saved then, they didn't know it. Nor did Peter know it, for he told them what they needed to do. They believed what he said, did it, and were saved by the obedience of faith.

The majority of the New Testament was written to and for the benefit of those whose obedience of faith brought them into Christ. These people are taught that faith must continue. In other words, there must be a continued obedience of faith in order to obtain eternal life. Eternal life is not a present possession. It is future, and only a continued obedience of faith will enable one to obtain it. Paul spoke of this when he wrote to Titus: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13).

Peter also speaks of eternal life. "We ... are begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and un-defiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:3-5). The obedience of faith, doing the will of God, keeps one through life, and results in the obtaining of that eternal salvation. But this blessing can be enjoyed only by those whose obedience of faith conforms them into the likeness of Christ. Eternal life is based upon this condition.

Has your faith led you to obedience?